Timmermans: Central Europe has ‘no experience with diversity’

Central European countries have “no experience with diversity,” European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said Thursday, making them susceptible to fears about Muslim refugees.

If no sustainable solution is found “you will see a surge of the extreme right across the European continent,” Timmermans said on BBC Radio 4, following a summit Wednesday where EU leaders agreed a range of measures to tackle the migrant crisis.

“We should know more about Central European history,” he said. “Knowing that they were isolated for generations, that they were under oppression by Moscow for so long, that they have no experience with diversity in their society, and it creates fear in the society.”

Timmermans said that fear had been exploited by politicians like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has held a hard line against the influx of migrants into his country.

Orbán wrote an op-ed this month for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which he said: “We shouldn’t forget that the people who are coming here grew up in a different religion and represent a completely different culture. Most are not Christian, but Muslim … Is it not worrying that Europe’s Christian culture is already barely able to maintain its own set of Christian values?”

Slovakian interior ministry spokesperson Ivan Metik said last month: “We don’t have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?”

“Muslims would not be accepted because they would not feel at home,” Metik added.

Timmermans, in the BBC interview, said Central Europe must adapt to the demographic changes.

“Any society, anywhere in the world, will be diverse in the future — that’s the future of the world,” Timmermans said. “So [Central European countries] will have to get used to that. They need political leaders who have the courage to explain that to their population instead of playing into the fears as I’ve seen Mr Orbán doing in the last couple of months.”

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JanV

OK, society will be more diverse. But history has also shown that whatever is in the melting pot has no intention to melt.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 11:52 AM CEST

Jiri

But nobody has told us why “any society, anywhere in the world will diverse in the future”. We are to decide whether it will or not, Mr Timmermans. How dare you speak so, how dare you decide for ourselves? Why should we get used to feeding migrants , most of them economic ones, demanding 2 or more thousand euros per month, in addition to board and lodging? They have never done anything for our countries and they will be never ever able to do anything else but require more and more? Why should we get used to suffering from diseases typical of their countries? Why should we put our wives and daughter at risk of being raped and murdered? Why do you not inform the public about Rothenham and other places of child abuse by people from abroad? Tell me why? What is your aim? Why should we be “diverse society”? Yes, you are right, Mr Timmermans, “you will see a surge of the extreme right across the European continent” unless you take effective measures to STOP migrants from arriving here. Of course, it would be easier for you to ban us from submitteng critical comments. But do not forget that communists were trying to suppress public opinion and they thought they were successful. But only for a few decades….

Posted on 9/24/15 | 12:06 PM CEST

Andrej Nemec

Dear POLITICO, Can you please explain why, when talking about Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland ( the Visegrád Group) you name them “Eastern Europe”, ” Eastern Europeans”, “Eastern Europe Countries” in a clearly derogative way ( in reality ORIENS, the EAST is where the sun rises and when everything begins while OCCIDENS, the WEST is where the sun sets and the symbol itself of decadence..) when it comes to express scorn and disdain (for not passively accepting the decadent West’s diktats), while the same Countries are regarded as “Central Europe” when it comes to flattering them for those to accept the burden of a migration of which they clearly do not bare the guilt (rather the fault of the aggressive war policies of the “Western Allies” (UK, USA and France))?
I believe many EUROPEANS would like to have less hypocrisy and more Intellectual honesty in the ” Western media”..

Posted on 9/24/15 | 12:15 PM CEST

Simona

Mr.Timmermans, I am afraid that people in western Europe are not too happy about the diversity, also Nederland you are from.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 12:20 PM CEST

Groundskeeper Willie

Indeed. We are quite backward and retarded intellectually here in central Europe. (Don´t mind that western journalist are still stuck in cold war days and don´t know much about the culture of the region, thus calling it Eastern Europe). We have still not discovered how Charlie Hebdo type massacres, boss´ heads on fences, shooting wherever and whoever and calling for pre-middle age laws will wonderfully enrich our culture. Thus we need some smart asshole from Brussels, Berlin or otherwise to tell us. Let´s face it, living in a calm and peaceful country is quite a bore, what we need is import of some “western” mess. Where will our children emigrate?

Posted on 9/24/15 | 12:25 PM CEST

Rogue Trader

Is he referring to the kind of diversity success that poor old Theo van Gogh experienced in the Netherlands?

Posted on 9/24/15 | 12:35 PM CEST

Alex

WTF?
Please start with WIKIPEDIA at least and read a bit about Eastern Europe. countries. All of them has considerable various minorities.
Just to give you 2 examples
Romania has: Hungarian, German, Roma, Jewish, Turkish-Tatar, Serbian, Croatian, Slovakian, Ukrainian people
Hungary has: Romanians, Gypsy, also Germans, Slovaks Croatian and various other people living

They come to talk about diversity in these countries??? Better go and sort the shit out in the countries where the “diversity” is not working and don’t mess up the places where it is without any major or significant incident for years.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 1:38 PM CEST

ExLiberal

Timmermans is completely wrong about “Central Europe” not having experience with “diversity.”
In fact, countries such as Hungary have been multi-ethnic polyglots, long after France and Germany became mono-cultural. To give one example, the historic Hungary was a stew of Magyars, Germans, Slovaks, Romanians, Serbs and Croats.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 1:38 PM CEST

Benelux

Dear,

This is again Western-Europe lecturing the others. The same people that first told us to respect the sovereignty of the Greek people in a referendum are now saying that we should just dismiss it when some countries do not want to take in refugees. Quite hypocritical, especially the people on the left…

I agree with the central European countries. The west has proven immigration is a farce and that multi-culturalism does not work. You just create mini communities within the same border, not a shared set of beliefs and values that countries have had. So why not stand up and say that you want to have shared values and beliefs in a country. There is nothing wrong with that. Only when immigrants prove they can adjust, can you dismiss this wish as being superfluous…

So in the end! I think more than half of the European people support the ideas of the East, it is just the socialist elitism that is keeping them down.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 1:56 PM CEST

Mario

Dear eastern Europeans, how dare you be so hypocrit? Western Europe saved you from misery and poverty sheltering you and trowing on you billions of Euro in the recent past (Euros are still flowing). Nevertheless, you are now pretending not to do so with others. If you don’t feel comfortable with the European values you are more than free to leave the Union. The real tragedy is that we made a terrible mistake with the enlargment in 2004 and now this big mistake is fully revealing. All in all, Eastern European countries are not and will not become part of Europe because they simply do not have a European culture and heritage. So, please, leave or shout up!

Posted on 9/24/15 | 2:34 PM CEST

Simona

Take it easy, Mario. Keep that grants, if you want to buy with them our agreement with such nonsence like to overload Europe with the influx of people who can be dangerous for Europe. (Nothing againts the help to war refugees).

Posted on 9/24/15 | 3:29 PM CEST

mario

Dear Simona,

This is about humanity so no offence but I do not take it easy. In your view immigrants could be dangerous for Europe but I am saying that, following the same rationale, people from the Balkans should be considered equally dangerous because of their different culture. On the grants thing, I would me more than happy to let Balkans go and to go back at the real Europe Union (EEC) with a truly European culture.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 3:43 PM CEST

Simona

To Mario: not Balkan, but Czech republic, but it is not important. Where are you from?

Posted on 9/24/15 | 3:59 PM CEST

Jiri

If you stopped censoring the mainstream media, you would see that it is not only people from CEE countries that are strongly opposed to accepting migrants (the vast majority of them are not refugees, as the media doggedly stick to saying in their vain attempt to manipulate the public). Unlike Mrs Merkel, Mr Junkers and other politicians plus some people who cannot see the results of their “open-gate policy” in the form of significantly increasing crime rates and transformation of society under pressure from those who should have been helped. No, we do not want to accept those people in our countries under any circumstances. We do not want to eat “halal” meat, refuse pork, build mosques, ban our women from wearing skirts etc. I´d rather live outside the EU where Mrs Merkel´s decisions, in my and not only my opinion, very bad decisions must be abided.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 4:01 PM CEST

Milan

Dear Mario,

From the poor English littered with grammatical mistakes and misspellings I presume you are Italian..

How do you dare to state that Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Slovania, Croatia are not European? Maybe Chopin, Mendeleev, Dvořák, Nikola Tesla, Marie Skłodowska Curie, Franz Kafka were not Europeans or are not part of the European heritage? What are you talking about?

Please go back to your dusty books and study!

Southern Italians and Sicilians in particular were not even classified as white people when migrating to America, and you dare to say that Central European people are not European?

You are very welcome to go back to where you belong…

Posted on 9/24/15 | 4:14 PM CEST

StasiMerkel

We should know more about central european history says Timmermans. What a joke! If he had the slightest clue he would know that central europe had more etnich diversity than western europe for centuries! Us poles are being attacked for having a homogenous state but if we go back 70 years in time, it becomes evident that 30% of our population was made up of minorities. One of them, the Germans, collaborated with the nazis, the ukrainians and belarussians collaborated with the other. Genocide was commited by the western european germans against the jews and gypsies. Apart from that we have had muslim tatars and orthodox armenians living in hour country for centuries. Stop your filthy slandering you genocidal brutes!!!

Posted on 9/24/15 | 4:17 PM CEST

Bandi

Maybe this EU bureaucrat (elected by whom, by the way) should start doing his job (securing Europe’s borders) or at least allow member states doing so instead of judging them. Hungary has 1100 years as a state, Mr Frans Whoever, and integrated many minorities successfully. Moron.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 4:44 PM CEST

Drew

Mr Timmermans is so arrogant, yet again. Maybe peoples of Central Europe don’t want muslim immigrants due to their experience in it, not their lack of it.
Indeed, Timmermans himself needs to learn a lot about CENTRAL Europe if he thinks that we have been isolated and do not know what diversity is…
Central Europe has always been at the borderline of Western and Eastern Christianity, suffered during the Ottomans… and has experienced in great extent a multi cultural environment during Austro-Hungarian Empire. During communism we had plenty of student and professional exchange programmes within the communist world, from Cuba, Sub-Saharan Africa to Vietnam, China, etc.

And on a final note, the multicultural example Western European urban areas offer is not attractive at all either!

Posted on 9/24/15 | 5:10 PM CEST

groundkeeperwillie

Mario, did you take the pill in the morning? Better take two tomorrow…

Posted on 9/24/15 | 5:48 PM CEST

jl

“Central Europe must adapt” … sounds like coming from Dark Ages.
What is the true nature of changes ongoing in the developed and democratic West?

Posted on 9/24/15 | 5:57 PM CEST

E.K.

Central Europe has plenty of previous experience with diversity. During our history, we shared our cultural space with Avars, Tatars, Ottomans, Romany, Jews, Germans. It did not work out. The last failed diversity experiment ended in 1945 when we chased Germans out of Czechia and Poland. We are not interested in diversity. If Mr. Timmermans insists on performing more social experiments, I’d kindly ask him to limit their scope to his own living room.

We are the pork-eating, beer-guzzling, God-ridiculing heathens. There is no place for Muslims over here. It just wouldn’t work. We would be unhappy living with them, they would be unhappy living with us, and we would end up killing each other to bits. Over here, Allah has no power, and diversity is just a myth.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 6:17 PM CEST

Kronstadter

It’s time for socialist EU to dismantle and make room for another kind of union without communist morons like Timmermans or Schultz

Posted on 9/24/15 | 7:02 PM CEST

nationalistes sans frontières

Remaining European won’t be an option. The elites have decided that it will be better if countries are all Muslim so you’d better get used to living in a Muslim society, or better yet just convert now. Don’t try to resist, only racists don’t want to live in Muslim majority countries.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 8:30 PM CEST

Adam

Then explain to me, Timmermans, why do countries such as France, Sweden and Denmark, experienced with your beloved diversity have such extremely popular anti-immigration parties?

Posted on 9/24/15 | 8:32 PM CEST

Zeltmar

Timmerman remember: 1. Patriots are not extremists. 2. Patriots will never forget their history and traditions. 3. Patriots are not your puppets you must get used to it. And yes center- right will win within 2 years all over Europe. Sick leftists – dictators, political correct centrists and corporatist-imperialists your days in power are numbered.

Posted on 9/24/15 | 9:50 PM CEST

Zeltmar

@Mario. To me you smell halal. You’re a muslim disguised as Mario. Even so, because our forefathers fought hundreds of years the islamic invaders, the Italians have today the luxury to appoint a communist pope. We will do it again and again and again until we can celebrate a job well done. Regarding western investments, keep the money, Germany and France murdered our economies enjoying free markets. How about we bring back import duties? Will Germany still be the 2nd biggest economy?

Posted on 9/24/15 | 10:19 PM CEST

Sjaak Wit

Maybe Mr Timmermans could come back to The Netherlands for a day and explain us the benefits of a multi-cultural society.
We do not know why it is so great to have people in our streets who do not like us, except our social securities.

Posted on 9/27/15 | 4:55 PM CEST

Rob

In advance; as a Dutch native, I will probably make some English grammar errors; my appologies beforehand. On topic:The shame of our country, the extremely vain socialist Timmermans. Self-absorbed egomaniac, pure left-wing evil. The globalist socialists forcing us, the Dutch (and every other nation within the EUssr thanks to their domination of the – not elected- EU council), to live in his multifoolishness-fantasy world; our day-to-day nightmare. Thanks to that so called ‘diversity’, the crime rates have shot through the roof; our elderly are victimized by agressive immigrant youth-good-for-nothing-criminals. Our women not safe (no matter the age btw). Our social system completely ruined and allmost bankrupted due to enourmous costs we must make for free housing, free welfare for life (a very large part of the (muslim/African)immigrants have never worked a day; official numbers from the gov. themselves) …for an immigrant it must be like winning the lottery; until death THEY can live of our pocket. Meanwhile our elderly are NOT being provided the right medical-care, are forced to live longer and longer in their own homes- even if medically unadvisable, the taxes rise higher and higher every year(and we are one of the most taxed employees in the world), Islam is taking over more and more, and is supported by the leftish government as ‘the religion of peace’ (yup; see the prospourus living standards in their home-countries, wher they all can live well, free and safe…*cough*) social unrest is growing by the week, asylumseekers flooding our housing market (they are being put above the own citizens; while a 18yr- or older Dutch person must wait for anywhere between 6 till 18 years to get a normal rental house, an asylumseeker gets one WITHIN 3 months after receiving their ‘permanent status’…and so on, and so on. It’s a very discriminatory fenomenon for the natural born Dutch, the ‘diversity- society as forced upon the Netherlands. Critics are slandered by calling them ‘Islamofobic'(and thats not even a word), ‘Nazi’s’, or just get killed (Van Gogh, Fortuyn). It is a recepy for civilian unrest and, if continued, ultimately a war. All the while our elitist people like Frans Timmermans live in luxurious Brussels apartements, in their safe little compounds. We get the ‘blessing of diversity’, they get masturbation-like ego stroking. The whole of the modern day EU is behaving more and more like the Sovjet-Uniion in its prime; forcing thousands and thousand of immigrants per month upon each member state. The Eurofiles are behaving like religious fanatics; they WILL demolish every old Nation within the present boundaries of the EU(ssr). Breaking the original inhabitants cultures to create the willing slave-like voters they crave.. And to reach that goal they are flooding every original country within the EU(ssr) with asylumseekers. NOT ‘refugees’; purely people who know that there is a free life for them.

Because THAT is the ‘diversity that Timmermans is talking about; flooding us with cultures from the Middle-East and Africa.

In stead of a safe haven with free trade, the EUrofiles trie to create the ‘United states of Europe’. The vast majority of the people from my country, the Netherlands, and allmost every other country in the EU(ssr) have NEVER gotten the chance to vote on this fenomenon; we were allways being told that is was ‘just a free-trade concept, leaving nation souvereignaty alone. Meanwhile Brussels is sneakinly taking more and more ground- even to the point where EU-rulling goes above national ruling. And we, the people, have- again- not even a vote in this. Us is told that the EU(ssr) should be more like the USA; but they forget one thing. Even the USA needed a civil war, before central government was (forcely) accepted throughout the whole country. And a civil war is where this EU(ssr) is heading- all thanks to the dictatorial behavior of ‘Brussels’, and that so-called ‘diversity.
Diversity as proposed by illusionists like that vain Timmermans is a crime. Thank Hungary for showing some backbone! (And as seen in diverse news media- and as i wrote before; they are being discribed by the Eurofile media as ‘extremist rightwing Nazi’s for standing their ground).

In my opinion, we, the PEOPLE in this EU(ssr), should combine forces against this Eurofiles. They are dangerous. Great praise for the way the Middle- European countries try to resist that forced ‘diversity’. You are inspiring more and more people in the Western part of Europe, to stand up and resist it also!

Posted on 9/28/15 | 4:39 AM CEST

Klara

Jiri has made an excellent comment (re. the insupportable pressure by the EU regarding the acceptance of migrants): But do not forget that communists were trying to suppress public opinion and they thought they were successful. But only for a few decades….Indeed, you (the EU) may succeed by blackmailing countries unwilling to abide by the quota system that they will be cut from EU funds but this will inevitably result in the raising of the right movements (which are against it). It is not the question of the lack of will to help people in need, it is a question of doing it in an orderly way – currently, we have a mess and a chaos created by the EU, that is Merkel – and on a voluntary basis. Each country is entitled to its own decision on how many, when and how they can take in migrants.

Posted on 10/2/15 | 4:27 PM CEST

Klara

Rob, I’ve just read your post…and this part cought my attention: ‘…. asylumseekers flooding our housing market (they are being put above the own citizens; while a 18yr- or older Dutch person must wait for anywhere between 6 till 18 years to get a normal rental house, an asylumseeker gets one WITHIN 3 months after receiving their ‘permanent status’…’ could you please send me a few more info re. this housing issue on my mail: forzari@yahoo.com. i plan to write an article about that for a Croatian portal (i can’t read Dutch newspapers); it would be great if you perhaps know if the same situation is in other EU countries? thx. Klara.

Posted on 10/2/15 | 4:54 PM CEST

rer

“Any society, anywhere in the world, will be diverse in the future — that’s the future of the world,” Timmermans said. “So [Central European countries] will have to get used to that. ” Well, Mr Timmermans tell that to the “Muslim” countries which outlaw non-Islamic religions. When a church, temple, synogogue or humanist center is built in Mecca, then Timmermans can lecture Central Europeans. Until then, back off and let these brave people protect what is left of Europe.

Posted on 2/8/16 | 10:43 PM CEST

Veritas-Semper

Herr Timmermans, true, Central Europeans don’t have any experience with ‘diversity’, and they don’t want to be force fed, either.

If ‘diversity’ includes specific experience with the exploitation of subdued colonies. Central Europe does not have that experience.

If ‘diversity’ includes settlement in Western Europe of former residents of subdued and exploited colonies as moral justice, Central Europe does not have that experience, either.

If ‘diversity’ means forced re-settlement of “welcomed guests” because Frau Kanzlerin Merkel took it upon herself to invite the millions into Europe, then Central Europe will have none of it.

If the “core EU” wants to ‘diversify’ further, please feel free to do so.

Central Europeans see the solution to the Merkel inflicted crisis at the root cause, at the countries of origin. Not forced cohabitation with people who really came to live in Germany, Sweden and other EU lands of reputable high social benefits. As such, most are not asylum seekers. They are economic migrants. Period.

If you continue to insist on forced re-settlement of the migrant population, then Euro-Commissars’ real goal is to undermine the social fabric of Central European countries precisely because they are hardening their resistance to the left-wing ideology which has overtaken the “EU Project”.

Divide et impera? This is a great opportunity, isn’t it Herr Timmermans…

Posted on 2/8/16 | 11:19 PM CEST

zan14

hey Timmermans. Go home and beat your dog that probably make you feel powerful. You are not in the position to tell people of Central (or Eastern doesn’t matter) Europe what to do. We don’t want your “diversity” and don’t want you either. Get lost